A survey showed that more than 70 percent of South Koreans think that unification with North Korea is necessary.

According to the unification ministry’s poll submitted to the office of Rep. Kim Kyung-hyup of the main opposition Democratic Party on Thursday, 72-point-one percent of one-thousand respondents said reunification must happen.

The ministry conducted three rounds of the survey since the launch of the Yoon Suk Yeol government, with the rate declining ever so slightly from 76-point-one percent in the first poll conducted last summer and 73 percent in the second done in December.

In giving reasons for the necessity to reunify, 28-point-two percent cited the easing of military tensions, while 26-point-three percent pointed to economic growth, which was the number one reason given in the first survey before conceding the top spot to easing tensions in the next two.

Rep. Kim said that public support for reunification remains high and primary concern about cross-border tensions stems from the Yoon government’s hardline policy stance toward North Korea.

The survey, conducted between June 19 and 30, has a 95 percent confidence level with a margin of error of plus or minus three-point-one percentage points.